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# suspense

«suspense» in Mova's school dictionary: **the excited or worried feeling of waiting to find out…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (suspense, uncountable)

### meaning for a pupil

1) Suspense is the excited or worried feeling of waiting to find out what will happen next. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/suspense/#m1)

2) In stories and films, suspense is the tension a writer builds on purpose so that you want to keep reading. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/suspense/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In English lessons, pupils learn to «build suspense» in their writing: short sentences, cliffhangers, hints of danger, slowing down time, questions in the reader's mind, sounds in the dark. «Keep someone in suspense» means making them wait for news. Suspense is a key idea for mystery, adventure and ghost stories. Phrases: «build suspense», «keep in suspense», «full of suspense», «the suspense is killing me».

### examples

- The story was full of suspense. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/suspense/#x1)
- Don't keep me in suspense — who won? [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/suspense/#x2)
- Short sentences can build suspense. Then silence. A creak. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/suspense/#x3)
- The suspense is killing me! [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/suspense/#x4)
- The film's suspense made us hold our breath. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/suspense/#x5)
- The author ends each chapter in suspense with a cliffhanger. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/suspense/#x6)
- We waited in suspense for our test results. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/suspense/#x7)
- ‘Ah, Princess!’ said the Queen, ‘don’t keep this poor Percinet in suspense any longer. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/suspense/#x8)

### note

Uncountable: «a lot of suspense», not «a suspense». Adjective: «suspenseful». Spelled with «-ense», not «-ence». Related to «suspend» (to hang): you are left "hanging". Do not confuse with «suspension» (being sent off from school, or a car's springs).

### In the corpora

- [Scary music is used to build suspense: it tells you something might happen before anything does.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/56-scary-films-nightmares-and-sad-endings/14/)
- [Repeating «closer… closer… closer» slows time down and builds suspense as the danger comes nearer.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/21-authors-choices-why-this-word-why-this-way/6/)
- [Repetition can build suspense and make time feel slow.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/21-authors-choices-why-this-word-why-this-way/18/)
- [An ellipsis is exactly three dots; it shows suspense, a trailing-off voice, or missing words.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/36-brackets-dashes-colons-semicolons-and-hyphens/15/)
- [Suspense is the feeling of waiting and worrying about what will happen next.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/42-building-tension-and-suspense/7/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «suspense» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/suspense/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.